The Fan Hub

Leading up to the Detroit Tigers signing free agent first baseman Prince Fielder, the most common speculation had the hefty Prince winding up with either the Washington Nationals or Texas Rangers. But according to Tom Verducci of SI, the team that likely would have landed Fielder was the Los Angeles Dodgers. However, with the Tigers losing their second-best hitter in DH Victor Martinez just over a week ago, it spurred GM Dave Dombrowski to go all-in on Fielder.

The idea of Prince in LA is an intriguing one, to say the least. Unlike Detroit, where Fielder or Miguel Cabrera can serve as a designated hitter to give the club some added defense on the infield, the Dodgers would have no such luxury. That would mean the team would have to trade incumbent first baseman James Loney, who over the past four years has not lived up to the hype that he garnered as a prospect and a rookie.

In the end, however, the fact that the Tigers did not include an opt-out clause in their offer to provide themselves with a safety net was likely a very big factor in Fielder choosing to go to his father’s old stomping grounds of Detroit. According to Verducci, the Dodgers would have insisted on such a clause after the third or fourth year of the deal in order to make the sale of the team more enticing to prospective owners, plus it would serve a safeguard in the not-so-unlikely scenario that Fielder’s weight starts to get out of control once he reaches his early 30s.